In previous blog posts, we took a look that the two crops we planted in the OCHM Garden that were successfully introduced to the region early: onions and potatoes. In this update, we are dealing with two more crops planted in the garden that were introduced later on: tomatoes and cucumbers.
Though quite common in gardens today, you would have been hard-pressed to find tomatoes and cucumbers in local gardens prior to the Revolutionary War. Tomatoes originated in the Andes before being introduced to Mexico and then spread the world over through Spanish exploration. Tomatoes require a long, warm growing season so the first tomatoes grown in America were primarily in the southern colonies. It wasn’t until the early 1800s, with the development of hotbed glass and cold frame techniques, that small, local farmers in this region, referred to in that period as “market gardeners”, began mass-producing tomatoes. Also, in the early 19th century, you would not see anything like the variety of tomatoes that you see in the grocery store today. More likely your choices would be like those of one Boston-based seed producer who, in their 1834 catalog, advertised two varieties of tomato: small and large.
An article in the Taunton Daily Gazette on April 7, 1919, detailing the merits of cold frame gardening. With this technique the sun’s warmth is captured in the glass-enclosed area, making it possible to grow warm-weather plants in cooler climates.
Cucumbers are native to India but were introduced to France as early as the 9th century. From, there they made their way to England in 14th century, and finally to North America in the mid-16th century. Though cucumbers were grown in parts of America as early as the 1600s, like tomatoes they were not mass-produced in this region until more advanced growing methods were popularized.
Today, in our climate, cucumbers are a great crop for a home gardener. To get a head start you can start them indoors, but they also grow great when directly sown in late spring. The key is to wait until the weather has warmed up to daytime temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees, and nights over 50 degrees. Cucumbers thrive with consistent moisture and soil with good fertility, (we’ve amended with compost prior to and at planting time). A healthy plant can keep your salads fresh all summer!
A cucumber seedling as of June 15, 2021.
For our tomatoes and cucumbers, there are lots of varieties to choose from. We are growing an heirloom homestead variety of tomato and a burpless variety of cucumber, both from Eden Brothers. The term heirloom typically refers to seed varieties that were grown prior to World War II whose genetic characteristics are passed down from one generation of plant to the next through their seeds. Burpless cucumbers tend to have a sweeter taste and a thinner skin, making them the ideal cucumber for pickling.
Botanical print of a tomato in the Flore pittoresque et me´dicale des Antilles, v.6 (1828).
We began both seeds indoors in late winter (to learn more on indoor starting techniques, see our Seed Starting post), and planted them outside just before Memorial Day Weekend. This year, Memorial Day Weekend was 45 degrees and rainy for three straight days. So it was not the best start to our plants’ outdoor lives, but now, a few weeks later, they are looking great. We also added some cucumber seeds directly to the planting bed, just to test which method is more successful.
One thing to keep in mind with all plants that are started indoors is that they require an intermediate step of “hardening off” before they are planted into the ground. This means that you need to take your seedlings outside, still in their pots, for a few hours. Let them sit in a protected area without direct sunlight or strong wind, and then take them back inside. The next day, you want to do the same thing, but for a few hours more. Keep extending the time outside for about a week, until they are staying out overnight (remember, as long as it’s at least 50 degrees). This acclimates your plants to life outside after the safe and stress-free life they had been living in your seed starting area, and means they are ready to go into the ground.
March 11, 1919 “Gardening Book” in the Taunton Daily Gazette
As both tomatoes and cucumbers are vining plants they both require some type of apparatus to aid their growth; in this case cages for the tomatoes and a trellis for the cucumbers. Growing cucumbers on a trellis keeps them up off the ground which offers good air circulation. This should help reduce the chance of leaf spot and make harvesting a snap.
Both plants will take about eighty days to fully mature, and in the meantime, we will regularly fertilize our tomatoes and cucumbers using a fish-based, high nitrogen organic fertilizer that we got from Neptune’s Harvest out of Gloucester, MA.
Part of this exhibit is trying new things and learning, so we also tried experimental “banana tea” fertilizer. Here’s a bit more on that from our YouTube Channel.
And we are off to a promising start, so we hope you’ll stay tuned and see how our heat-loving veggies grow this summer! We’ll be posting updates to our social media and right here on the exhibit blog.
Tomato flowers on June 25, 2021.
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